James Stubbs, a teacher from our English Online course, shares his top tips about how to get the most out of learning English online by yourself.
A brief glance at Google tells me that almost thirty per cent of the internet is in English. This is obviously a huge opportunity for those looking to develop their language. The problem of course is that, because it is the internet, it has a serious amount of misinformation. Below are some tips to help you navigate away from the fake content and towards the useful.
Make it fun, make it interesting
If the desire to learn additional languages was enough, the world would have a lot more polyglots. Ask yourself, what do I like to read, watch videos on and share ideas about? Then do these things in English. It is unrealistic to think that you will spend hours learning lists of words because, unless you are someone fascinated by memorising lists, this is boring.
Do you like reading the news?
There are pages dedicated to presenting news at different levels for English learners.
Do you like cooking?
Use video recipes on YouTube in English. If you need them, you can always add subtitles and slow the speed of the video down.
What about chatting?
There are platforms galore dedicated to online English speaking.
Don't always believe the hype
Just because someone says that repeating sounds and words without context for half an hour a day will make you sound like a native, doesn't make it true. The same with people who claim to be experts before going into a long explanation on why you need to focus on memorising only three words a day.
Ask yourself who are these people? Why are they best positioned to guide my language learning? I know that my colleagues at the British Council have studied how English is learned, but what studies and expertise does someone on the internet have?
It is worth getting to know a little about how learning English actually happens so that you don't waste time and become frustrated. Blogs, like this one from the British Council, on English learning methodology are a great place to start.
Context helps
Do you want to study grammar? Are you confused by the difference between an ‘adverb’ and ‘an adjective’ or between the second and third conditionals? What helps here is context. One thing education researchers seem to know for sure is this, trying to learn things that are abstract and not connected to real-world experiences is hard. Conversely, learning things that are contextualised and connected to real-world experiences is much easier.
Let's take an example. The British Council's sites for learning English include a series of videos called ‘Grammar Snacks’. They present a video story that helps you to understand the importance of getting grammar right.
Research says that the best way to learn grammar is through examples. In this case, each video is followed up by more real-world examples. Give it a go.
Don't be so hard on yourself!
One extremely popular quote repeated to anyone trying to develop anything in any field is this.
"Perfection is not attainable, but if we chase perfection, we can catch excellence."
What about learning English online? Well, actually a large body of research says the opposite. It basically says that perfectionists learn languages slower. It says that not allowing yourself to participate in communication because you are focused on never making errors slows you down. It denies you the chance to be involved in situations rich in language and distracts you from what you are doing.
Better to accept that errors are a normal part of learning English and that your language doesn't only develop through their constant correction.
Researchers say that that language develops:
- every time we understand what we are reading or listening to, especially when it is just a little above our current level
- when we notice differences between what we see or hear and what we can say
- when people repeat back to us in the correct form what they hear us say
So maybe cut back on the perfectionism and do what you enjoy.
Establish your own level
A worry many learners have is this: how do I know what readings and videos are for my level?
The answer to this is based on your level of comfort. Ask yourself, do you feel comfortable reading or watching these things? While some new language is good, constantly having to use a dictionary or translator, is a frustrating experience that makes us less likely to continue with what we are doing. Again, it depends on context, if we enjoy things or it's a topic that we are familiar with, we are more likely to tolerate a few more unknown words.
Develop your vocabulary through meaningful activities
Another idea from English learning research is called "narrow reading/listening". If we focus our attention on a particular topic, let's say crime or football, we acquire a lot of vocabulary related to this topic. Anyone reading about crime in English for a sustained period would recycle the same vocabulary over and over again and be much more likely to have this vocabulary available to actively use when they needed it.
Another good thing to read are stories, written by the same author, that come in series. Authors tend to have words they repeat frequently so when you read their books you will see and use the same words and develop a deeper knowledge of what they mean and learn to use them in the right context.
I hope you find these tips useful, as you try to learn English online.
For those looking for a more structured experience, try a seven-day free trial of English Online. It is a live online course which gives you the opportunity to come together with nine other participants. You’ll be practising English while discussing topics of your choice, all whilst being guided by an experienced British Council teacher.